A bit shocking its such a big difference, and Vettel seemed uncomfortable with the new RB8.
But I wouldn't worry too much, it might seem less dominant but no where near un-competitive like what happened to McLaren and Ferrari back in 2009.

OH MY!!!
ALONSO OFF!!! He's in P4 now in Q2 but he might be in trouble dropping out!!!

A bit shocking its such a big difference, and Vettel seemed uncomfortable with the new RB8.
But I wouldn't worry too much, it might seem less dominant but no where near un-competitive like what happened to McLaren and Ferrari back in 2009.

OH MY!!!
ALONSO OFF!!! He's in P4 now in Q2 but he might be in trouble dropping out!!!

Thanks, I've always watched F1 on and off but was never really a fan till second part of last season. I'm planning on watching this whole season, so i'll be coming here often for ur expertise Also excuse any noob questions I might have.

Wow, wow, wow!! This goes to show you that ugly F1 cars aren't the quickest (duh).

A couple caveats before people go crazy after this qualifying session though:

1.) Melbourne is an unusual circuit, and it doesn't necessarily indicate true pace through the season.

2.) We've yet to see who has good race pace - with the two DRS zones, passing should not be much of an issue at this circuit.

That being said, this season is going to be GREAT! We could be in for an epic battle between Mclaren and Mercedes, with Red Bull playing the role of Ferrari last year.

And the real big news - Ferrari appear to truly be NOWHERE. Pretty awful to see, but not a huge surprise after the comments coming out of testing. Massa has become even more useless, when we can't even get within 1 second of a beached Alonso. Wouldn't be surprised to see him leave the team by the end of this year.

Fantastic job by the McLaren boys, their cars havent looked this good so early in the season in a long time. For a while it's seemed like they been playing catch up but now it looks like they are leading the pack. MSC had a great session as well, I also thought Rosberg should have been faster. The RB8 is really missing that blown diffuser and Ferrari, wow wtf happened there. I have know idea why they brought Massa back, Alonzo easily out qualified him barely getting a real good lap. Grosjean did a great job as well, hope Kimi has a good race since the pace is there

I doubt Lotus's protest will change Charlie Whitings mind however the main reason for the protest might be to try and figure out how the system works. Maybe force Merc to give up the details as they try to protect the use of their innovative system.

Woo the rolling chicanes/HRT wont be racing this weekend. I think the stewards would have let them race (due to their lack of testing) had Karthikeyan not held up so many people during Q1.